Growing up my pastor used to say, “Nobody likes change except a wet baby.”
Change is difficult. We don’t like change in our relationships, our health, or in our jobs. We don’t like getting older. We don’t want our children to move away from us, and we don’t like changing times. Even if it’s good for us change is painful. It takes adjustments and new attitudes. It can be uncomfortable and scary.
Of course not all change is good. There’s loss, divorce, getting fired, or laid-off. Then again, change can have positive affects on us. They can even bring blessings. The bible is full of stories about change and how people adapted for the good.
Take Abraham for example. God asked him to make some significant changes. He also promised Abraham significant promises and blessings.
“The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you.”
The changes God put before Abram were: Leave your native country; leave your relatives, and your father’s family. He was to make these changes without knowing where the Lord was taking him. For most, that would cause great anxiety.
My children played sports so our summers were mainly spent at a ballpark rather than on sandy beaches or at the Grand Cannon.
One summer, our son’s baseball team lost in the early round of their tournament. That left us with one week before school started with nothing to do. I suggested we pack for the beach, jump in the car, and take off to Florida. We didn’t have any reservations but I was certain we’d find somewhere to stay.
My husband didn’t share in my excitement of an unplanned adventure. Not knowing where we would land filled him with anxiety. He couldn’t switch gears and adjust to the idea so quickly. He examined all the possibilities as to why the plan wasn’t a good idea. I talked him into it anyway. And he fretted the whole way there.
Once we arrived, found a place to stay, and were sitting on the warm sandy beach his anxiety melted away.
“This is a nice change of scenery.” He said to me while sipping a diet coke. I looked at him and grinned. Then folding my arms behind my head I leaned back in my chair.
“Yep. It’s gonna be a blessed week after all.”
Abram had no idea where he was going. Everything he knew was left behind. It was a painful change. Many uncomfortable adjustments had to be made if he chose to obey God and step out in faith. But that’s just what he did and the change paid off.
Take a look at God’s promises to Abram. “I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others.I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”
That’s quite the exchange don’t you think? Abram thought so. He considered the change, weighed the pain and adjustments, and concluded that the blessings were worth it.
I don’t know what kind of changes you may be facing now or what’s coming down the road, but I encourage you not to stop short of the cost. Consider the blessings.
Micca, I seem to have made a career of changes. In thirty five years of marriage I have moved six times following my husbands career. Actually nine if you count the times we moved from one house to another in the same city.
I went to college when I was 29 years old.
At the age of 52 my job where I had worked for ten years was done away with, with very little warning.
I wouldn’t change a thing.
I can truly say that I have learned much and been blessed much along the way. I won’t say that it has always been easy. It made my family very tight because if nothing else we had each other. I longed for a home and roots. I have blessed with that for the past thirteen years.
Now that I have my kids raised I find myself craving change, an opportunity to broaden my horizons meet new people see what else God might have in store.